


Reveal

by Ferith12



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Gen, Magic Reveal, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 23:51:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20455622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ferith12/pseuds/Ferith12
Summary: This is not how Gwaine ever imagined the Reveal would go.





	Reveal

This is not how Gwaine ever imagined the Reveal would go.

Namely, he imagined that the Reveal in question would be the revelation that Merlin had magic. Or that Gwaine knew that Merlin had magic. Whichever. He had not imagined that it would come via the revelation that Gwaine has magic. This isn’t fair at all. Gwaine already told Merlin his tragic backstory, it’s Merlin’s turn.

But now Merlin is bleeding out in front of him and the fact that Gwaine has magic is suddenly very relevant (as is the fact that Merlin has magic, but that fact is always relevant).

Fun fact that Uther made everyone forget: everyone has magic. Literally everyone. Even the Princess has at least a drop of magic. Half a drop, maybe. Point is, magic is something everyone can learn. The amount varies, of course. Not everyone can throw fireballs or make the ground shake. Very few people can do that, actually. But everyone can do something. Most people born in Uther’s kingdom don’t know this, because for most people magic is something that’s just sort of there underneath, you don’t need to do anything with it and it just sort of lays there, dormant. Then there are the few poor sods that are just overflowing with magic, they bend reality just by breathing. These are the people that in Uther’s Camelot are said to have magic.

By that definition, Gwaine does not “have magic”. What he does have is a disinterest in royal propaganda, a quick mind and a tenacious determination to use every advantage he can get to survive. Gwaine’s been many places and met many people and learned many things, and among them is a simple charm that can briefly cure drunkenness (though unfortunately not a hangover), a few tricks for going unnoticed when you want to, running farther, going longer without food or water, and of course, healing. Nothing finicky, of course, nothing that takes actual power, and he doesn’t know the first thing about disease. But Merlin has a clean cut, deep, but not jagged or complicated in anyway, no organs cut, the only thing wrong with him is the bleeding. Gwaine can stop bleeding, he’s had plenty of practice. But being able to heal himself isn’t quite the same as being able to heal Merlin.

He knows exactly what Merlin is. He was there when the dwarf at the bridge called him Magic, after all. And more than that, Gwaine hears things. He’s been many places, met many people. Merlin is who the Druids call Emrys, he must be. Gwaine can feel it, if he concentrates. His own magic is like a couple drops of something more within the human flesh and bone, Merlin is like a sea of golden magic under the skin and filling the air and connecting to the earth. Trying to heal Merlin is like trying to push at the ocean with a few drops of water. The ocean has to help, and Merlin has never known anyone else’s magic to be anything but hostile.

Gwaine doesn’t know if the human embodiment of magic actually can die, but Merlin seems to be making a pretty good go of it at the moment, and it’s not something Gwaine’s willing to risk, so he says, “Merlin, I’m going to try to heal you with magic. Don’t freak out, mate.”

And then he says the words and his eyes flash dull bronze, and for a moment he can feel that vast golden sea of power rejecting it, and it’s the most terrifying thing he’s ever felt. But then Merlin accepts, trusts him, and Gwaine’s magic guides the way with Merlin doing most of the work.

And at the end, Merlin’s wound is healed, and he’s smiling up at Gwaine with a light in his eyes, like he’s found a friend for the first time in his life. It’s not how Gwaine imagined the Reveal would go, but he’ll take it.


End file.
